An Upgraded Soul

The malevolent smile on the man's face vanished as he stood frozen like a statue. He steadied his rapidly beating heart as he calmed himself down while inhaling and exhaling deeply as he turned to face the person standing near the window which was at the opposite end of the room.

'How was he exposed?' this was the only thought in his mind when he saw the stunning woman who gazed coldly at him. Her lotus eyes did not show any fear or anger. Her demeanour was as calm as one could be. She had glowing light copper skin with rich health which when combined with her tall, well-developed figure would cause many men to drool. Her long black hair was straight and silky, it was tied into a ponytail. Her hands were empty with no firearms which puzzled him.

She wore a black solid boat neck t-shirt which brought out the beauty of her shoulders perfectly along with short sleeves. It was matched with Khaki slim fit jeans and black high top leather heeled boots. Vitality and strength radiated from her physique as she passively approached him.

He calmed himself down as he knew that he was found out. It was not as important as to how he was found out.

The woman, whose face looked like she was in her early twenties but her physique suggested that she was in her mid-twenties, looked at the sniper rifle in the man's arms as she said, "Yalguzag sniper rifle, a bolt-action sniper rifle that fires the 7.62×51mm NATO rounds, It was as I suspected, you are from the area around Azerbaijan, right?"

The man was shocked when he saw that this woman recognized his sniper rifle with one look, he sneered as he said, "I could have bought in the black market, it's not that hard." of course he would not agree.

"Well, if it was just the rifle, that may be possible but the thing is I had been keeping my eyes on you from quite some time just like you have been keeping an eye on my younger brother Adi. The food you cooked for yourself resembles Plov, Dolma and Piti which are common household delicacies of Azerbaijan. Add on your Turkic features on top of that, what do you have to say to that?" the woman spoke in the same peaceful way as if she did not fear him.

He was dumbfounded when he heard these words, he was actually been observed for so many days and he did not notice it? Was she an elite counter surveillance expert?

"No" the man simply refused to accept as that would give away a lot of information about both himself and his parent organization. He still had a small hope that he could escape but if he leaked his identity or his organization's identity, the woman did not need to kill him, his own superior would do it for her.

The woman smiled as she looked at him like an idiot and said, "Srika"

"You" the man almost lost himself as clenched his fists while controlling himself but his reddened eyes gave his emotion away.

"Oh, so you understand Armenian also," the woman gave a little smile as she said. She had just called the man a 'bastard' in that language. She nodded thoughtfully as she continued, "a person who has both the characteristics of Armenia and Azerbaijan, able to yield the sniper rifle of Azerbaijan land forces, has a scar on his left arm which has a coiling snake tattooed around it. It can only mean one thing. You are a hit-man of 'Khzel' organization, right?"

The man's blood cooled when he heard the name, he had only one thought running through his mind 'How does she know so much?' Now even if he escaped from her, he would be killed as long as this woman leaked his identity. The organization he worked for did not care about its assassin as much as it cared about its reputation and confidentiality. He had to kill this woman at all costs today. Luckily that woman did not seem to have any intention of pulling out a gun while he had a hidden handgun in his sleeve.

"So you found out, may I know how you know so much? Who are you actually?" the man started planning his next step while trying to strike up a conversation with this woman.

"Well, I am Saira, Indian Special Ops. As to how I know so much about you guys, I was one of the elite soldiers who was selected to represent India to participate to work in collaboration with the Mossad for two years. I had worked with a guy called Huseyn who was an Azeri being trained by the Mossad to work against Iran. He worked as my subordinate in some operations, so I came to know about the customs and workings of these countries." the woman explained patiently as if she was in no hurry.

"As for why I am here, of course, to look after my younger brother Adi. So, what's your name?" Saira added as he looked straight in the man eyes.

"You can call me Ali. I have done my research, Adi has only one elder sister who is called Maahi Kapoor, she did not contact the kid these days." Ali refuted as he tried to position himself in the optimum position to attack Saira.

A bright smile spread across Saira's face for the first time as she said, "we are a total of three siblings who are not related by blood, I am the eldest one while Adi is the youngest one. As for why you couldn't know about me, it's simply because any information regarding me is protected by the government of India as my services belong to a special portfolio which requires me to vanish from this society. Even my relationship with my parents is strictly concealed let alone with Adi. Only after I am retired, will my legit status be restored, not like I am complaining. See, it helps people like you or those who hired you to lower your guards."

Ali smiled bitterly inside when he knew that his target had relations with the Indian special ops, wasn't this simply asking for death. Now he knew how he was monitored without being discovered and why she knew so much about him and his background. Only 'Apogee' class and above were suitable for dealing with special ops.

He looked at Saira as he asked, "Why don't I see you pointing a gun at me?" this was the question which was haunting him from the beginning.

Saira smiled awkwardly as she answered, "Actually I am currently on a crucial mission, it seems like some sleeper cells have been activated in Bangalore with the aim of causing indiscriminate destruction in public places. So I am supposed to be tracing those bastards now. So if I use my gun to kill you, every bullet used by me has to be accounted for, I would have to give an explanation to my superior as to why I am neglecting the current mission which is a little troublesome."

"It's a pity," Ali said with a sympathetic expression as he raised his right hand to aim at Saira's forehead and pulled the trigger.

How could someone so naive to think that I am unarmed join the special ops? Is this country's military overrated? Just when Ali thought of continuing his mission, he heard a metallic sound which is produced by striking metal on metal, which stung his eardrum and his brain buzzed due to this sound of high frequency.

When Ali got back his composure and saw the person in front of him, his mind blasted as he looked with horror at the right hand of this woman whom he had presumed dead. The skin near her right palm had been torn off exposing the shiny metal beneath the surface which glittered in the light. He remembered that he had heard the name of these people previously when he returned to headquarters. How could she be one of those? How could she be 'that'? How was he supposed to escape?

Saira walked towards the stunned figure of Ali with a regrettable expression on her face as she said, " Now, how am I going to explain this to my superior?"

Saira wrapped her metallic fingers around Ali's throat, she was not really expecting him to answer her, the metallic arm crushed the trachea and spinal cord of Ali before he could even calm down from his shock. It was that easy. The body fell on the ground with his limbs making involuntary jerky movements, a thin line of blood leaked out of the mouth as his eyes lost their light.

Saira ignored the body as she took Ali's mobile while muttering, "now, with my men keeping a close eye on all the suspects, I should be able to lock down the real culprit by comparing their actions at this time?"

Saira could have killed this assassin the moment he was discovered but she restrained from doing so as the key person to catch was not the assassin but the one targetting Aditya. She knew that the breakthroughs in privacy technology have ensured that a rich person who is willing to spend can be easily guaranteed privacy and confidentiality nowadays. Let alone there is TOR (dark web) which was created by the American military to ensure almost perfect privacy.

So she arranged some people to monitor a list of suspects so that they could get the timing of the perpetrator down when the assassin makes a move on Aditya.

Saira took the terrestrial telescope from the floor as she looked at Aditya who was reading a book while flipping the pages. Her eyes showed true emotion for the first time as a beautiful smile spread across her face. She still remembered the 6-year-old boy who could not spend a night without running into her bed and sleeping while hugging her because he was afraid of ghosts. Maahi was eleven and she used to scare him by narrating horror stories.

Grief flashed in Saira's eyes when she saw Aditya's wounds. She knew what he was doing these days but she did not have the heart to dissuade him because she knew why he was doing these things.

Saira looked at her metallic hand as she flexed those metallic fingers and mumbled, "Although you can't save uncle and aunt by doing such, you can at least prepare yourself for the future and the future" Saira looked with apprehension in her eyes, "is going to be very chaotic. We need all the strength we can muster to ensure our survival."